Posted By Viva Sarah Press On March 15, 2011 @ 12:00 am In | No Comments

Ness Technologies has been awarded a five-year contract worth more than $75 million from Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays Bank, to establish an Israel Development and Engineering Center (IDEC), which will provide technology development and engineering services.

“We are pleased to partner with Barclays Capital on this significant initiative to establish a software development and engineering center in Israel,” said Sachi Gerlitz, president and CEO of Ness Technologies. “During the course of the engagement, we will contribute our knowledge and expertise in building and managing software development labs. We will employ our unique software development methodology, taking good advantage of Israel’s pool of high quality engineering talent.”

Ness Technologies is a global provider of IT and business services and solutions with expertise in software product engineering, system integration, application development, consulting and software distribution.

The Ness-Barclays deal comes one day after Barclays announced the launch of a financial R&D center in Israel.

“This is definitely an important day for the Israeli economy. Over 30 years ago, a company called Intel decided to set up in Israel a small unit with 20 scientists. The result was that very large high-tech companies came here, and Israel became a global R&D center for the international high-tech industry,” said Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz. “Today, one of the world’s most important banks is coming to Israel to set up an R&D center with 200 scientists of banking and financial technologies. We have no doubt that this is a first step, which will be followed by other banks. We have no doubt that this is the beginning of a new age that will turn Israel into an R&D center for financial technologies.”

Governor of the Bank of Israel Prof. Stanley Fischer also saw the move as an important act by Barclays. “Today’s event is the start of a process to develop Israel as an R&D center in a slightly different field from classic high tech, in which, at least so far, we’ve achieved success,” said Fischer. “When looking at the export of goods, the growth rate is slow, but when looking at the export of services, we see a faster growth rate. This is a win-win situation, first for the companies that come, and the second win for Israel. We are bringing the big world here.”